Foreword:

Hello fellow fans and friends! :D Welcome to my Minecraft: Story Mode novelization!

When I first played MCSM, I thought that it was a good story that wasn't that well written but had a lot of potential. I kept thinking to myself as we played, 'I love the characters, but they're underdeveloped. I love the plot, but it's full of holes. I love this story! But there are so many things I would change.' Observations led to analyses, analyses to ideas, ideas to brainstorming sessions, and so on and so forth, until… well, I arrived here. That being said, there was one key moment in the story, (which I will point out when I get to it) that ultimately kicked me down the rabbit hole.

I'm doing my best to write the story in such a way that you don't have to have played the game before, as long as you've played Minecraft or just know how it works. So if you have any friends that play Minecraft but don't want to play/buy MCSM, and you want them to know the story, please direct them here! :)

Note to anyone who hasn't played either game, try to read this like an original novel. I will have a glossary at the end for anything that I found difficult to explain within the story itself.

Enjoy!

Prologue – When One Story Ends

««««« … »»»»»

Two down, one to go.

Ivor held his new yet dusty trophy close and out of sight as he walked through the halls of the theater.

With the press of a camouflaged button on the wall, the pistons worked behind him to cover his tracks, leaving the entrance to his secret lair completely hidden. It was a brilliant design if he did say so himself, but that wasn't important right now.
Along with one fewer Wither skull to acquire came one problem. He was running out of stamina—not to mention getting very sick of the taste of his own potions—and if he couldn't get his hands on one more skull before tomorrow night, all of this rigmarole would be for naught.

As luck would have it, he'd heard about a treasure hunter in town who, for a small fee, was about to make the third skull much easier to obtain. Good timing, too. He had already broken fourteen gold swords getting the first two himself, and if he had to brave one more trip to that confounded Nether, he might just die—if not from Wither sickness than from sheer heat exhaustion.

"I'm getting too old for this," he mumbled to himself after carefully placing the newest addition to his plan in a large chest right next to its identical counterpart. "Blasted Wither skeletons…"

Ivor walked over to a cauldron at the edge of the room and peered down at his reflection on the water inside. With the layers upon layers of ash all over his face, he couldn't help but think that he almost looked like one of those ghastly creatures himself. He scrubbed his face clean and did his best to get all of the soot out of his scraggly beard, but couldn't tell how successful he was since his hair was already coal black. He could think of few things he hated more than Wither skeletons.

At the moment, it was blazes. "Blasted blazes!" If it weren't for his potions, they would have burned him to a crisp. Unfortunately potions of fire resistance didn't work on clothing.

He took off his charred, tattered robes and slipped on a new dark green one that looked identical to the other before it had caught fire from the blaze attack. Nasty creature. Well he'd had the last laugh, and now its smoldering remains burning a hole in his Pocket would be ground into powder and used for more potions of fire resistance.

With that, Ivor left the security of his makeshift lair in hopes that this rumored treasure hunter would not disappoint.

« … »

Ivor had never been known for his patience, but time was of the essence, and he couldn't let this opportunity slip through his fingers. So grudgingly, in the shelter of a dark secluded byway, he forced himself to wait.

"'I've been expecting you…'" he muttered to himself in what sounded to him like an intimidating tone. "No, that's too obvious. 'I don't like to be kept waiting.' No, no, that's not right either."

He paused, putting a finger to his chin. "'We meet at last…' Oh, that's good."

"Hello?" he heard from his left, and he turned to see a rugged looking girl with a blue bandanna and shoulder length orange hair, silhouetted in sunlight at the entrance to the alley. With one hand to her side and the other slinging a pickaxe over her shoulder, she stepped forward and met him in the shadows.

Ivor frowned.

"You're late," he stated flatly, raising an eyebrow in disapproval. "Petra, was it?"

"That's right. And you are?"

"Introductions can wait," he said smoothly. "First, tell me one thing. Are you willing to go to the Nether?"

"I've been there before, if that's what you're asking."

"Excellent. And have you ever fought a Wither skeleton?"

She cocked her head with mild interest. "So you need a Wither skull."

Hmm. Smarter than she looked. That could be a problem. "Indeed. And for the price…"

He was reluctant to even suggest gold. It was valuable enough, but if she had been to the Nether herself, she might have a surplus as well. Besides, he wanted to keep his gold. It was extremely useful for brewing. However, he didn't suppose she would accept spider eyes.

"How about a gold block?"

"Hmm…" She looked down, making a pensive face before shrugging. "Not useful enough."

He inhaled sharply. Not useful? He couldn't count the number of invisibility, night vision and healing potions he'd brewed using gold pillaged from zombie pigmen.

I suppose you think ghast tears and blaze rods aren't useful either! He wanted to say. I suppose you charge into battle at night blind and exposed—because you think it's 'sporting' or something!

Ivor exhaled and forced a cordial smile.

Petra smiled back and suggested, "How about a diamond?"

And there was the problem. He didn't have a diamond. Didn't have time to get one, either.

"That… sounds reasonable," he said.

A diamond was indeed a small price to pay for such a valuable piece, especially since he wasn't even going to pay it.

"It's a deal, then," Petra agreed.

"Fantastic! I need it by tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow?"

He gave her a challenging grin. "Is that too much for you to handle?"

Petra scoffed a laugh. "Hardly."

"Perfect. I'll be waiting between the two buildings west of the entrance to the convention grounds."

"You mean the dark, creepy alley by the gate?"

Ivor almost rolled his eyes. "Yes," he said sardonically. "The 'dark, creepy alley' by the gate."

"All right. And your name was…?"

"Ivor!" he announced, grabbing her hand and shaking it energetically. "A pleasure doing business with you!"

He felt so free! No more trips to that sweltering wasteland! No longer would he have to listen to the insufferable moanings of those festering pigmen.

His ego complained and he let go of Petra's hand, backing away and trying to look intimidating. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have other business to attend to."

"Ditto," she said, sounding vaguely amused as she returned her hand to her hip. Ivor on the other hand tried not to spend too much time trying to remember what that word meant.

She turned around to leave and Ivor called after her, "Oh, and Petra…" She peeked over her shoulder at him. "Don't be late."

Oh, that was good.

As the girl left, Ivor's excitement returned, and he grinned in sinister delight.

Soon his plan would come to fruition, and then the world would finally know the truth.

The Order of the Stone might be legends, but his story was far from over.

« … »

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

—Proverbs 14:12

Author's Notes:

So there you have it, the first piece to my first fanfic ever. ; ~;

I wanted to take this moment to thank you… and warn you. - I am a VERY slow writer, but I'm already committed to this project and I WILL finish if it's the last thing I ever do! Feel free to send me questions about any choices I didn't mention or something I added or anything. I have a lot of reasoning that I couldn't fit into the author's notes, and if you're interested, I would love to share them with you. :) Heck, maybe I'll do an audience Q&A thing at the end of each chapter. What do you think?

UPDATE: Oh! And I forgot to mention when I first posted this that, since Chapter 1 probably won't be up for a couple weeks at least, I'm offering a short preview of it upon request for anyone who reviews. However, I can't respond to an anonymous review, so keep that in mind if you're interested in getting the preview. My only rule is that a request for the Chapter 1 preview cannot be all that the review entails.

P.S. You remember a few weeks ago how the name tags for Reuben and Lukas were spelled wrong and now they're not? Yeah, you can thank me for that. ;) (Unless there was someone else who inquired about this at the same time as me. If so then I tip my hat to you, fellow name stickler!)

- Fourteen Gold Swords? — If you've played Minecraft, you know exactly why I made this such an obscene amount. If not, then all you need to know is that gold swords suck and are good for nothing but enchanting. (Which explains why Ivor likes them.) -_-

- The 'Dark, Creepy Alley by the Gate.' — Petra quotes him as saying this later—and I don't know if this is just me—but I can't imagine Ivor, as flowery as his speech usually is, saying that. Fixed!

Glossary:

I would like to assume that most of you MCSM players have also played Minecraft, but I'm sure some of you haven't and I'm also showing this to some of my friends who haven't, but you can completely ignore this section if you've played Minecraft. (Even if you've played MCSM though, I suggest reading some of these since I'm going to be going into the finer details of Minecraft.)

- The Nether — The Minecraft equivalent of Hell, except you can enter and leave as you please and it has nothing to do with the condemnation of your soul. :P The Nether is a dimension that can be accessed by making a portal of obsidian and igniting it with fire. It's a barren wasteland with oceans of lava and fire everywhere. Any standing water will vaporize instantly. It can't support life in the traditional sense, but is nonetheless home to a variety of hostile creatures, including but not limited to the following.

- Wither Skeletons — Tall, charred skeletons that wield stone swords and deal great damage on top of afflicting their opponent with Wither sickness (see below). When killed, Wither skeletons will occasionally drop Wither skulls.

- Blazes — Living up to their name, blazes are constantly blowing smoke and will literally go up in flames whenever they are about to literally fire. Smoldering rods float around their main body which they will use for melee attacks (Ouch!). They make a metallic labored breathing sound and are hurt by water, including rain and snowballs.

- Zombie Pigmen — Exactly what they sound like. Pigmen are a lot smarter than normal zombies (more on them later) but share the same attention range (A very long one). They're hive minds that normally just wander around moaning pensively, and when provoked will let out a screech that any other pigman within earshot will hear, prompting him to come to his fellow pig's aid.

- Wither Sickness — A horrible condition in which the victim withers away. Energy is sapped, and the constitution degrades over time. Symptoms include dizziness, coughing, pain all over the body. It will wear off after time but can prove fatal before doing so. Like all status ailments, it can be cured by drinking milk.